Roger Ebert Hospitalized With Fractured Hip

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 7, 2012 3:00PM

Chicago Sun-Times film critic was hospitalized with a hip fracture Thursday, the latest in a series of health complications for Ebert over the years.

Ebert’s wife, Chaz, told The Associated Press doctors were assessing when he would be released from the hospital, joked he fractured his hip “performing disco dance moves” and asked for his computer. Ebert tweeted the fracture would not require surgery.

Ebert’s writing has become his voice once he lost the ability to speak after numerous surgeries to battle cancer in his thyroid and salivary glands. The loss of his voice has honed to razor sharpness what already was one of the most distinctive writing styles in American journalism. (One of our favorite Ebert essays in recent years was one where he explored how his connections between food and memory have become more vivid as a result of losing the ability to eat.)

Ebert has also turned to social media as an outlet for his thoughts and writing; he’s a prolific presence on Twitter and Facebook and regularly engages readers with intelligence, wit and passion. He’s also written eloquently about using technology to replace his lost voice, as this video from TED2011 shows.